The Pox
by alexsonnn
Summary: Tom's spending the weekend at the Rider house. But what happens when both he and Alex get the chicken pox? Set before Ian dies. Fun, cute little one-shot.


Ian Rider sighed as he sank down into the comforts of the cushions on the couch. He had been home for nearly two months straight; life was good. Tom Harris had been staying the weekend with them because his parents were on vacations. Yes, vacations. Separate vacations so that they could both cool off from each other. They were coming home sometime this evening though to get Tom.

Two sets of running footsteps barreled down the stairs.

"No running in the house you two! Alex, Jack's told you that more than once. Tom, you should know better than that from the last time," Ian warned as the two eleven year old best friends entered the sitting room.

"Yeah, but Jack's not here, she's on America for her dad's birthday." Alex pointed out as if that justified his reasons.

"And I didn't know that vase was worth that much when I crashed into it." Tom objected.

Ian looked over to the spikey haired boy and was about to reply, but then he noticed the spots.

Tom had spots all over his face and arms and the teen was scratching them repeatedly.

"Tom, what's wrong with your face?" Ian asked warily.

Alex laughed at the question while Tom glared at the man.

"My mom says you're not supposed to ask things like that to people." He said.

Ian only chuckled softly before moving closer to the boys to get a better look.

"Yeah, well, I don't think your mother would be too upset with me about this. I think your have the Chicken Pox, Tom."

Tom gasped.

"Chicken pox? I'm sick? I don't wanna die!" He objected, eyes wide.

Alex rolled his eyes at his friends overdramatic attitude. Tom always over reacted when he got sick. Once he had a very bad stomach virus and he actually made out a will.

"Tom you can't die from the chicken pox." He said.

Ian wisely didn't correct his nephew.

"You can get very sick from it though." Ian pointed out as he raised a hand to Tom's head to feel the forehead. He was a bit warm.

He got up and made Tom sit down.

Then he turned to his nephew who was watching the scene play out. Alex had never seen Ian take care of a kid other than himself before.

"Alright, what about you? You've never had chicken pox before either. Are you itching anywhere? Do you feel bad?" He asked.

Alex shook his head mutely, quietly trying to back away from his uncle.

Ian sighed silently. He knew Alex hated to admit he was sick. Getting Alex to say 'I don't feel good' was like pulling teeth.

"You wouldn't lie to me would you?" Ian asked.

"No! Come on, Ian, if I'm sick then where are my spots?" Alex asked, showing Ian his arms.

Ian smirked. Alex actually thought he was fooling him.

He reached up and grabbed the hem of Alex's shirt and raised it up, revealing the boy's torso and back which revealed quite a bit of spots.

Tom gasped as he saw Alex's chest.

"Oh no! You're dying more than me!" Tom exclaimed, scratching at a spot on his arm viciously.

Ian rolled his eyes and swatted at the boy.

"Spot scratching!" He said.

Ian gently pushed Alex onto the couch beside his friend and moved into the kitchen to call Tom's mother.

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After calling Tom's mother, Ian moved back into the sitting room but stopped at the doorway to watch the scene that was playing out before his eyes.

Alex and Tom were standing back to back, rubbing against each other in an attempt to relieve the itching that was taking place on their backs.

"Move to the left!" Alex complained.

"I am!" Tom retorted.

"Not your left, my left."

"What's the difference?"

"Uhh...everything?"

"Don't correct me while I'm trying to help you!"

Ian laughed at the two best friends.

"Alright you two. Knock it off. If you scratch you're going to leave scars." He warned.

"So? Scars are cool. Just like Scarface!" Tom said.

Ian sighed.

"Sit down. I'm going to get you two something to nip those fevers in the butt then you're going to sit down and watch a movie to take your minds off the itch." Ian ordered.

Tom mockingly saluted the man before flopping onto the couch, trying to take up as much room as he could so Alex couldn't sit down. But Alex fixed that by promptly flopping down on the other boy's stomach, causing a 'ow' to expel from Tom.

They began to wrestle but then Tom faltered slightly and said 'whoa' as his eyes became unfocused and he became dizzy.

Ian grasped the boy by the shoulders and pushed him back onto the couch.

"Okay, that's enough. You two are _sick_. Just because you're here together doesn't mean you're still having your sleepover. You kids are going to rest." He said firmly.

Tom and Alex both nodded, suddenly neither one of them felt all too well. Probably because of the horse- play.

They both sat on either ends of the couch and curled up. When Ian was sure that they were going to listen to him he resumed up the stairs to get the medicine the children were going to need.

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Ian had trouble believing the way his life changed from week to week.

One week he was in a shoot out with a armed terrorist, the next he was sitting on the couch watching the movie 'Finding Nemo' with his nephew and friend as they were curled up on the couch beside him.

He had given them something to managed there oncoming fevers and then got some medicated lotion to soothe their itching.

Alex was sitting nearest him and was beginning to doze halfway through the movie. His nephew began fall and rest his head on his bicep.

He looked over and had to stifle a laugh as he saw that Tom was leaning his head on Alex's shoulder in quite the same way that Alex was doing to him.

Both the boys had flushed faces which told him that their fevers were beginning to rise again, they would need more medicine in a few hours.

Ian settled into the couch more and felt Alex snuggle his face into his shirt more before sighing in his sleep contently. Ian couldn't even try to deny his nephew's cuteness if he tried. The way his blonde hair fell into his eyes as he slept, the way he unconsciously snuggled in his sleep, and most importantly the way he rubbed his eyes sleepily when he woke. He often caught himself watching Alex sleep at night, especially when he had just gotten back from a particularly hair raising mission. Watching Alex Rider sleep was somehow soothing to him. It offered him peace and contempt.

He looked over to Tom once more to see that the boy was drooling on Alex's shoulder. That would be a interesting conversation between the two kids when they woke up.

Ian slowly felt his own eyes droop tiredly from having to take care of two sick children all day.

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Jack Starbright excitedly approached the front door to the Rider household. Jack had taken an earlier flight to get home from America. There was a reason why she lived a whole ocean apart from here family. She had only been there five days and she was already wanting to pull her hair out. Her brothers with their annoying habits, and her mother with her nagging. The only thing that was good about her visit was being able to spend time with her father on his birthday. He was the only relatively normal person in her family. And he had seen how miserable she was there so he talked her into taking a earlier flight home, assuring her that it was fine as long as she promised to call home more.

She was so happy to be home with two of her favorite people.

She went to open the door only to find it locked. She realized that it was starting to get dark outside and Ian was a stickler for making sure the doors and windows were locked all the time.

She fumbled a bit but finally found her set of keys. She opened the door and set her suitcase by the door. She quietly tip-toed into the house and into the sitting room as she heard the sound of a movie playing in there. She was planning on surprising them, but she stopped short at the scene she saw. Alex, Tom, and Ian were asleep. Each one of them leaning on one another. Even Ian Rider had his head laid to one side so that it was resting on the top of Alex's head.

Refusing to let this moment pass, she went back to her bag and pulled out her digital camera. She went back to the couch and began snapping pictures.

Smiling she couldn't help but think of all of the blackmail she could use on Ian with this.

She jumped as she heard a knock at the door and Ian's eyes snapped open, momentarily startled by the scene in front of him.

"Jack? I thought you were supposed to be home until Monday?" He asked.

"I caught an earlier flight," She said as she moved to get the door.

Jack opened the front door to find Tom's parents standing on the porch arguing...as always.

The couple came in and got their son before exchanging their thanks and goodbyes. With Tom safely tucked into his father's side they walked out into the night.

"I didn't know they were sick," Jack said, moving to get a better look at Alex who was still sleeping.

She ruffled his hair softly. She felt his forehead.

"He needs more medicine. His fever's going up again. And I'll have to keep him hydrated."

Ian shot his head up at that.

"_You're_ going to have to keep him hydrated?" He asked.

Jack nodded slowly as if she was talking to a child.

"Yes, you're sick too." She explained.

Ian snorted.

"No, I'm not." He retorted.

Jack laughed lightly as she disappeared upstairs before returning with a small mirror. She held it up to Ian and he looked at his reflection.

…..Crap. His face was covered with spots.

**A/N- lol, here's another little one-shot that's been nagging at me. Let me know what you think. Really short, I know. I thought I'd go ahead and post it anyways.:D**


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